Widely known in the art is a method for the diagnosis of sinusitises, comprising puncturing the wall of the sinus with a needle, sampling the contents of the sinus and carrying out the analysis. Devices for the diagnosis by this method are in the form of needles of diverse configuration and size. It is necessary to puncture individually the maxillary sinus, the frontal sinus, the ethmoidal and clinoid cells, both left and right, with injuries to the osteal walls and mucuous membrane of the nasal cavity and sinuses. It will be, therefore, apparent that the methods for the diagnosis associated with puncturing are very injurious and are not very accurate at that. For this reason, special instruments have been developed for carrying out the diagnosis and treatment without puncturing.
Thus known in the art is an endoscope for the examination of the outlet openings of the accessory nasal sinuses when it is possible to examine the outlet openings of the sinuses opening into the nasal cavity and to carry out the diagnosis of sinusitis in case there is an escape of pathological contents therefrom. However, in case of incomplete filling of the sinuses with a pathological fluid and with a viscous pathological secretion, there is no evacuation of the fluid into the nasal cavity through the outlet openings so that it is not possible to carry out the diagnosis of sinusitis using the endoscope.
Also known in the art is a device comprising a tube reinforced by a plastic rod having an inflatable vessel and a cuff and three passages two of which are each connected to the vessel and cuff, respectively, and the third passage has an outlet port communicating with the tube surface at a point between the cuff and the vessel. The cuff and the vessel are rigidly secured to the flexible tube. The third passage has an adapter for connecting to a syringe (cf. SU,A, 1311714).
In using this device, the reinforced tube is inserted into the nasal cavity, the nasal cavity in seald off on the nostril and rhinopharynx sides by inflating the cuff and the vessel. Vacuum is connected to the nasal cavity sealed off in this manner so as to sample the contents of the sinuses. However, the above described device does not allow one to tell exactly from which one of the sinuses the secretion has been evacuated so that the topical diagnosis of sinusitis cannot be ensured.